In March 2024, the East Los Angeles Planning Commission voted 3-2 to grant an appeal blocking the construction of a mixed-use project which calls for redeveloping parcels including rent-stabilized housing in Boyle Heights. One year and one lawsuit later, the Commission is scheduled to meet again to undo that action.

Tiao Properties, the owner and applicant, has sought city approvals since 2021 for the construction of a six-story building at 2115-2123 Cesar E. Chavez Avenue featuring 50 apartments above roughly 4,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and subterranean parking. Plans utilize Transit Oriented Communities development incentives to propose a larger structure than zoning rules would otherwise allow, in exchange for the provision of five units of on-site extremely low-income affordable housing.

2115-2123 Cesar E Chavez AvenueGoogle Street View

Although Planning staff granted approval to the project in August 2023, the project was shortly afterward faced with an appeal from a group consisting of current tenants of the properties facing displacement through the project. They argued that the project was inconsistent with zoning rules and the California Environmental Quality Act, and also contended that the project had been approved without sufficient community input, and lacked a substantial amount of affordable housing.

While Planning staff recommended denial of the appeal, pointing to state law providing the Commission with little discretion on a housing project of this type, a majority of Commissioners ultimately voted to grant the appeal, thus overturning the project's prior approval. LA Public Press reported at the time that the rationale behind that decision included a recent uptick in evictions after the end of COVID-era renter protections, as well as an alleged lack of consideration to issues such as gentrification, displacement, and mental health impacts.

2115-2123 Cesar E Chavez AvenueGoogle Maps

During the March 2024 hearing, Planning staff also informed the Commission that Tiao Properties could file a lawsuit against the city, in which case a judge could force the Commission to reverse its decision. The prediction came to pass earlier this year in Cesar Chavez 888, LLC v. City of Los Angeles, in which a court-issued judgment will now force the Commission to reject the appeal and once again approve the project. The Commission is scheduled to meet on April 9 to vote on the item.

This is the second time in which a legal decision has forced an Area Planning Commission reverse its rejection of a housing development in recent years. Under similar circumstances, the South Los Angeles Area Planning Commission was ordered by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge to rescind its decision to block the construction of the District Square project, which calls for building more than 500 apartments near Metro's Expo/Crenshaw Station. 

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